Behind the scenes with the Haven FunStars!

FunStars are a huge part of every Haven holiday – providing the iconic evening entertainment that generations of holidaymakers know and love. Lots of our younger guests leave Haven wanting to become a FunStar when they’re older!

But who are the FunStars and what do they get up to on the park? We’re here to spill the beans on everything – even how to become one yourself…

First things first… what is a FunStar?

The first thing you’ll notice at Haven is that FunStars are the life and soul of the park. Their job is to bring fun, laughter and entertainment to all our holidaymakers and our visitors will tell you they do a fantastic job. In fact, during our 34 week season they entertain over 3 million guests, which is no mean feat!

What’s more, each and every one of them is dedicated to making your holiday great. After all, singing, dancing and making your holiday special is what they’re all about.

Top-class family entertainment every night

Our FunStars are real busy bees! From morning til night they offer a jam-packed entertainment schedule – with kids clubs in the daytime and taking to the stage in the evening with live shows and star performances.

Start your day with a delicious character breakfast – a very special way to start the day with your favourite Haven characters and FunStars – but it’s the evening when the real fun starts with shows like FunStar Rockstar (ready to rock with all your favourite anthems) and Live@ (Live Lounge style acoustic performances).

And if your kids are aspiring FunStars, there are plenty of ways for them to get their five minutes of fame. Show off your talent in our Haven’s Talented Seaside talent show or pick up some top tips from the experts at our Pop Academy Master Class with X Factor stars Same Difference.

We’ve got some new activities for little ones this year including Anxious’ Sensory Morning for babies and Ned’s Tots and Tunes for toddlers, as well as Mini Stompers (think Zumba for kdis!) and of course the brilliant Seaside Squad shows with Rory and the gang. During the school holidays we really step up our entertainment schedule with an exciting line up of shows too including Cinders – The New Musical, and Summer Mania Wrestling!

Becoming a FunStar

Ever wondered how FunStars become FunStars?

Well, we need hundreds of FunStars to keep the guests in our 35 parks entertained so each year we run a recruitment drive to discover Haven’s next top talent at www.funstartalent.com. We hold auditions up and down the country to find the very best singers, dancers, presenters and entertainers. Our FunStars are beginning their training this week in preparation for when our parks begin opening mid March – we’re so excited for the best season yet!

To prove they’ve got what it takes, aspiring FunStars need certain special qualities. Above all they must be fun – that’s absolutely vital. Secondly, they must be able to sing, dance, act and present. In other words, they need to be really multi-talented!

Many of our FunStars will tell you that it’s the best job they’ve ever had – some of them were even inspired to become one on their own holidays at Haven. Nathan, a FunStar at Craig Tara had this to say about his job:

“I’ve always wanted to be FunStar, ever since I was very small. We used to go on family holidays to Primrose Valley every year and I just remember seeing the FunStars (and Havenmates!) and wanting to do what they do… wanting to be on stage and performing!

For me the best thing about being a FunStar is knowing that you are making memories for families. I love all the aspects of my job, especially singing in the show team but there’s nothing more rewarding than getting to know a family and giving them the best holiday I can.

If I was to describe my job in three words they would be: rewarding, amazing and as Rory the Tiger… says tigertastic!”

And to prove just how talented our performers are, some of them go onto really big things – did you know Duncan James from Blue was once a FunStar?

Well now you know!

Comments

Dale Webb

Just a quick message my partner and I are taking our daughter Miah for her 3rd holiday in a row to Haven at Caister and a excited 5year can’t wait to see her old and new friends the fabulous fun stars ,they alwTs have a smile fir everybody and talent is plentiful .

Recommend to all

Naomi Woodstock

Ah that’s lovely to hear, I shall be sure to pass on your feedback to Carrie who is the Entertainments Manager there.
Have a wonderful time and please do share your experiences on https://www.facebook.com/havenholidays
Naomi

natalie

funstars work hard. Rikki and the team at Burnham are amazing. We loved Amy last year she was absolutely fantastic, her and her and zoe were our favourites. They got to know the children through ou the season and almost become part of the family. Rikki works hard and we are pleased he is still at burnham this year. we have now booked a holiday at a different park to our caravan so we can go see amy. Well done funstars.

Wonderful to hear you love our Funstars just as much as us – and they really do work their socks off! I’ll send on the message to Rikki. Amy and the Team as I’m sure they would love to hear from you 🙂
Which Parks have you booked at? We hope you have an amazing time on both and please let us know all about them at https://www.facebook.com/havenholidays 🙂

Hi Barry 🙂 Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment I’ll pass on your feedback to the fantastic team at Burnham!

natalie

Team at Burnham really are fantastic. The kids clubs are amazing and the shows are great

mark mcleod

Just returned from our 3rd holiday at Marton mere, Blackpool. Had a great time! Very friendly and welcoming park. The fun stars are great! Had the kids there to see them every evening!
Will be back again and again!

Brilliant stuff! I’ll be sure to let everyone know – they’ll be so pleased to hear this! We look forward to welcoming you back 🙂

Jessica-Charlotte Sheahan-Gay

I’ve been an owner at hafan y mor since I was 4 months old. It was so amazing everytime that we went. As we went up every weekend you get to know the funstars. Id love to have a go at it in a few years. This year lauren, shaun, calvin and kirsty are my favourites. But obviously everyone else is great too! Hafan y mor is literally my second home, and I wouldn’t change it for a thing!

Lovely to hear, the Doniford team will be thrilled to hear your comments and we can’t wait to welcome you back next year!

Rebecca hunter

Hello Helen
I visited Haggerston Castle site and few months back and I can honestly say the fun stars where amazing we couldn’t wish for anyone better then them. They made our holiday a good one to remember. We cant thank them enough, also would like to say a massive thanks to Emily Larsen the fun star as she was totally amazing and always knew how to make your holiday a good one to remember and also made it fun. The funstars were fun and entertaining and couldn’t ask for a better bunch. i miss them already and hope to see them all again this year, and also missing Emily. thank you.

Lucinda Berry

I have been going to Devon cliffs (sandy bay) for nearly 29 years ! We love the funstars Dan and Neil, they are just like Ant and Dec, brilliant entertainment !

Oh wow – that’s amazing! Don’t tell anyone but Devon Cliffs is one of my favourites as well. I’ll pass on your lovely comments to Dan and Neil, you will have made their day comparing them to Ant and Dec!

natalie

We have an amazing team of funstars at Burnham on Sea this year. Jess is doing incredible job. Every night is worth the visit.

Thanks so much for commenting – the team will be so pleased to hear this and I’ll be sure to pass it on!

Jessie

I’ve always wanted to be a funstar. All I want to do it perform on stage and make people smile. Ever since I won havens got talent, singing Listen by Beyoncé ( I’m soprano male ) it sparked something inside of me. Maybe one day I’ll be doing what these fine performers do.

What a lovely comment 🙂 I’ll be sure to pass them on to the Caister team 🙂

Lynn Dorman

my 3 kids have just returned from Craig Tara after being on holiday with their gran and aunt. They had an absolute ball. They haven’t stopped telling stories, singing songs, showing us the actions to the songs. It is really hard to find a holiday where children aged 8-15 can all have their own experience and haven definitely offer that. Their favourite funstar was Cameron. He was absolutely brilliant.